Founder of McCaleb Peace Initiative, friend of College dies
Allison Rosewicz

Editor-in-Chief

The College is mourning the loss of a long-time peace promoter.

Kenneth McCaleb, creator of the McCaleb Initiative for Peace at Missouri Southern, died around 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002, at Crestwood Hospital in Huntsville, Ala. Complications from an intestinal blockage led to a fatal heart attack. He was 82.

 I was standing right by him one moment, then he was gone,  said his wife, Margaret McCaleb.

He was a retired mechanical engineer at NASA.

McCaleb graduated from Joplin Junior College, the precursor of Southern. While a student at Joplin Junior College, he established and named the College newspaper, The Chart, on Nov. 10, 1939.

 I was trying to get a sensible name for a college newspaper,  McCaleb said in 1988.  The Chart sounded like a straight-forward name that could serve as a record of the College s progress. It must have been a pretty good name. 

Margaret McCaleb said her husband considered his time at Southern  a wonderful educational opportunity. 

After graduation, McCaleb was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II, just five days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was a navigator aboard a B-17, flying bomb missions over Germany.

On Oct. 14, 1945, he was shot down and taken to a German camp as a prisoner of war for 19 months. He was released April 29, 1945. He was 25.

The war experience affected McCaleb for a lifetime, and he dedicated his life to peace. In 1998, he and his wife created the McCaleb Initiative for Peace at Southern so students could research the causes of war and learn ways to prevent it.

The McCalebs donated 2,000 shares of Time Warner stock, worth approximately $150,000, to the College in 1998 for the initiative. This equals about $5,000 per year for a student-journalist to travel abroad and report on peace issues for a supplement in The Chart.

Margaret McCaleb said the initiative at Southern will continue to be funded.

College President Julio Le n said he was sad to hear about McCaleb s death.

 He was a great friend of the College,  Le n said.  He was a very dear person to this college and The Chart. We will remember him with fondness. We wish Mrs. McCaleb our condolences. 

Dr. Chad Stebbins, director of the Institute of International Studies and The Chart adviser, first met McCaleb in the spring of 1988 at the 50th anniversary of the College. He said the McCalebs have always stayed in contact with the staff and advisers of the newspaper.

 It was remarkable how he kept in touch all the way from Alabama,  Stebbins said.

Margaret McCaleb said she and her husband were avid readers of The Chart.

 We look forward to The Chart,  she said.  We get aggravated when the postman doesn t bring them. 

She called her husband a  thoughtful  and  very studious man. 

 He was always reading and expanding his mind,  she said.

Le n and Stebbins agreed. Le n said McCaleb was  very well-informed  and had  a strong interest in international affairs. 

 He s a great benefactor,  Stebbins said.  Every college or university has to have people like Kenneth McCaleb to bring an air of greatness, of credibility. We re fortunate we had him. He gave so much of his own money and time to improve this institution. 

McCaleb is survived by his wife of 57 years; a son, Robert D. McCaleb and his wife, Patti, of Cleveland, Tenn.; three grandchildren, Laura, Leah and Landon McCaleb; and a sister, Bettie McCaleb of Joplin.

On Sept. 26, the McCalebs came to Southern for the Gockel International Symposium. When they returned home Oct. 1, McCaleb began to feel ill. He was admitted to the hospital Oct. 6.

Visitation was Oct. 10 at Laughlin Funeral Home in Huntsville. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Grace United Methodist Church with Rev. Fred Webster officiating. Burial will be at 1 p.m., Oct. 15 at Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee.The McCaleb family encourages memorials to be made to The McCaleb Initiative for Peace at Southern.

 We ve had a very good journey through life,  Margaret McCaleb said.  We ve had sad times, but far more happy times.